


Cherry Stems

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, scmoop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-15
Updated: 2013-07-15
Packaged: 2017-12-20 06:10:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/883850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a slowish build fic with cherry stems and smells and fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cherry Stems

It’s not that Niall doesn’t love his mother, because he does. He absolutely does. It’s just she calls him all the time. And well, when you’re in college you don’t really want your mother calling you all the time.

“Yes, Ma, I’m fine,” Niall sighs. He’s honestly just trying to study his Spanish notes.

“Are you eating enough? Do you need money?” she pesters him.

“I’m fine,” he states once again.

“How’s Louis? I know he was having some difficulties.”

Niall rubs the back of his head, “He’s fine too. Look, I have to go- Spanish won’t study itself.”

“Alright, love you!” Maura calls before he hangs up. “Wait! When am I getting grandchildren?”

“Ask Greg,” Niall grumbles. “Love you too, Ma.” He hangs up and turns back to his textbook only to be tackled by a practically vibrating body. “Yes, Lou?”

“Liam’s sleeping over tonight,” Louis says into Niall’s shoulder, voice muffled by cotton.

Niall groans, “I’ll be gone.”

“Do you have any condoms we can borrow?” Louis asks.

Niall jumps, “Keep them! God! I don’t want them back!” Louis snickers on the couch as Niall figures out who to stay with while his mates get to shagging on every available surface in his and Louis’ flat. He’ll have to call Josh apparently because he’s the only person who isn’t attached at the moment.

Josh picks up on the first ring, “Niall! What can I do for you?”

“Can I stay at your place this weekend? Liam’s staying over,” Niall grumbles.

“Oh yeah, sure!” Josh crows. “My mate Harry is over right now, but he’ll be gone eventually. Right?” Niall hears someone on the other side of the line mutter a right.

“I’ll be over soon,” Niall walks down to his room to grab his backpack and throws his textbook inside, maybe between the FIFA marathons, he’ll get some studying done. “Bye, Lou! Don’t get pregnant!” Louis snorts as Niall leaves and starts the trek down to Josh’s flat.

He knocks on the door and Josh answers it shirtless with half a sandwich in his hand, “Hey, Ni! Come on in! Harry, move over!” Niall enters and drops his bag on the floor to pad into the kitchen and snag a beer. He wanders into the living room and guy with dark brown hair wearing a cream colored fedora smiles over the top of the couch at him.

“Hi, I’m Harry,” the guy waves and sticks his tongue out to eat some crisps.

“Niall,” Niall sits next to him and puts his textbook on the coffee table littered with porn magazines and empty beer bottles.

“Oh, you take Spanish?” Harry leans forward to look at the book. “I do too, but I’m absolute shit at it.”

“It’s my minor,” Niall shrugs. “Do you need help with it? I basically speak it fluently.”

Harry grins at him, “That’d be great!”

“Shove over,” Josh pushes Niall with his foot and sits between the two boys. “Niall’s staying over this weekend, you want to, Harry? I know Zayn has Perrie over.”

“Eh, why not?” he leans back and pushes his hat off his head to fluff at the curls underneath.

“I’m ordering pizza,” Niall gets up and orders in, flopping across Josh’s lap when he’s finished. “So Ma asked me again today.”

“Does she forget that you’re in uni, unemployed, and homosexual?” Josh chuckles pushing Niall onto the floor.

“I feel like she does it because she’s lonely,” Niall stands up and slots himself in between Harry and Josh.

“So you should visit her more,” Josh rolls his eyes like it’s obvious.

"My mother lives in Ireland, I can’t afford plane tickets for every weekend!” Niall shakes his head and glances at Harry. “Can you believe him?” Harry shrugs and flicks the side of Josh’s head.

“Alright! It’s not pick-on-Josh-night!” he jumps up. “I will separate you two, put you in time-out if I have to.”

“Aw, c’mon, Joshie!” Niall whines. “I just made a new friend, don’t take him away yet!”

“Then no more flicking,” Josh warns.

“Promise!” Niall holds up his hands in surrender.

***

Niall falls asleep on Josh’s couch with Harry’s feet near his dangling hand. He’s asleep on the floor, says it’s better for his back or something. Niall’s not really sure of anything other than the fact that it’s absolutely pouring outside and the low pressure system in the area is making his knee throb in the worst way. He needs some ibuprofen or something or maybe a machete. Except Harry’s right there and he doesn’t want to wake him which will mean he’ll have to jump over him and he’s not entirely sure his knee can handle that at this moment. He thinks fuck it before sitting up and pushing himself off the couch only to land in a heap on Harry, waking the younger boy and eliciting an “oof” from him.

“Fuck!” Niall gripes, holding onto his knee and trying to awkwardly shimmy off Harry’s torso.

“Are you alright?” Harry wheezes, a hand traveling down to massage his stomach and chest.

“Yeah, the weather’s just making my knee hurt, arthritis,” Niall mutters, knowing his cheeks are bright red.

“Oh, let me get you something for that,” Harry stands up and wanders into the kitchen before Niall can protest. The Cheshire native returns a few minutes later with a glass of water and some Tylenol. “Here. But you know what will really help?”

“What?”

“A good cuddle,” a then Niall’s being hoisted up by his waist onto the couch and shoved into the arm of the couch so Harry can curl around him.

“You just wanted to sleep on the couch didn’t you?” Niall might not really know Harry, but he knows guys and Harry definitely just wants on the couch. Harry shrugs against him and closes his eyes. He’s out before Niall has even set his glass down on the side table.

***

Niall’s classes drag because he’s honestly way too smart for some of them. The only thing that keeps him from skipping class and blowing all his funds on take-out is Liam. Who apparently seems to think an education is the most important thing in life besides fucking Louis.

“Isn’t he just wonderful?” Louis sighs watching Liam move around their small kitchen so he can provide a meal that isn’t 98% grease.

“Sure, yeah,” Niall mutters not looking up from his phone.

“Who are you texting?” Louis snatches Niall’s phone and dances out of his reach. “Oo! Who’s Harry? Look, Liam! Out little boy is growing up!”

“Give me my phone, Harry is just a guy I met through Josh who I’m going to help learn Spanish!” Niall jumps on Louis’ back and retrieves his phone. “He’s coming over for dinner so we can study, he has a test Monday.”

“Harry what?” Liam asks.

“Styles, he’s in law,” Niall types out another message that his roommate and roommate-in-law are over and that they will definitely question Harry.

“Oh, he’s Zayn’s roommate!” Liam waves his hand like it suddenly makes sense.

“Who’s Zayn?” Louis questions, eyes narrowing. “He’s not hotter than me right?”

“No one’s hotter than you, Lou,” Liam promises rubbing the tip of his nose with Louis’.

“Good,” Louis reaches up to kiss Liam properly and Niall high-tails it out of there before things get messy.

“Don’t burn the food!” he warns, but only gets a terribly covered moan in response. He flops on the couch and flicks on whatever game is playing, opting to continue texting Harry.

Is your roommate Zayn?

Yeah. How’d you know?

My friend Liam knows him

:) Can I come over now? Zayn isn’t home and I’m bored

Sure, things can get pretty porny here

Harry doesn’t respond to that and Niall half wonders if maybe he shouldn’t have said that, but whatever, Harry’s really only his ‘student’. He decides to get out his flashcards from high school and textbook. And then he waits, noting that the stove is turned off after a while and Liam and Louis sneak into Louis’ room. He rolls his eyes and turns up the game, grabbing his guitar to mess around with till Harry gets there.

Harry gets there fifteen minutes later, nose red from the cool fall air.

“Hey, come on in. The love birds are nesting,” Niall tells him going to the kitchen to get beer.

“At least the whole flat doesn’t smell like sex,” Harry offers.

“It would if I didn’t clean, trust me.”

“No, it smells like a really nice cologne,” Harry says.

“Um...I wear Calvin Klein, it might be that,” Niall shrugs.

Harry nods and wrinkles his nose accepting a drink from Niall, “So, Spanish.”

“I promise you’ll like it once you understand it,” Niall promises moving back into the living room where he has his spread setup.

“I’ve been trying to understand it for years,” Harry tells him. “But I have faith in you.”

“And I have faith in you, so,” Niall holds up the flash cards. “Let’s begin with vocab.”

***

Harry comes flying down the cafe Niall eats lunch at most days with Louis with a wild grin, “I actually passed this test!”

“Great!” Niall cheers.

“The professor actually asked me if I cheated because he didn’t think I would pass the course!” Harry laughs and yeah, his laugh is nice.

“So, Harry,” Louis starts. “Do you have a girlfriend?”

Harry turns to Louis quizzically, “Uh, no. Why?”

“Just curious,” Louis smiles deviously and kicks Niall under the table. Niall glares at him and Louis makes this face like Niall’s supposed to know what it means.

“Well pull up a chair, Harry!” Niall says. “You get a cupcake on me!”

“You never give me cupcakes when I do well!” Louis protests.

Niall rolls his eyes, “Fine. Three cupcakes.”

***

Harry pretty much becomes a normal fixture in Niall’s life and slowly transitions from ‘student’ to close friend. The three of them meet Zayn and soon enough they become a merry band of five idiots.

“Okay, so you actually streaked past an old lady’s house and she called the cops on you?” Zayn is breathless with laughter as Louis recounts his story.

“Yeah! The cop told me to get dressed and quit acting like a nut or he was going to arrest me, but then-” Louis continues his story which is making Liam bright red and Zayn almost keel over from laughter and alcohol.

“Has he always been like this?” Harry leans over to mumble in Niall’s ear.

“I’ve known him since I was a tyke and yes, he has. Nearly got me arrested multiple times too and fined!” Niall’s not mad at Louis though, his life wouldn’t be half as much fun without him in it.

“Hey! You were the one who put the dryer in the road!” Louis protests, trying to get to Niall over the table, but Liam pulls him back and presses a kiss to his temple which makes Louis absolutely melt.

“Dryer?” Harry smirks.

“So what do you do for fun?” Niall pushes right past Harry’s question.

“Sing, bake, not much else really,” Harry shrugs. “And I guess go to concerts.”

“Oh my gosh you could be a cute singing duet couple!” Louis suddenly shouts excitedly. “Niall plays guitar!”

Niall shoots Louis a can you not look, “Sorry, Harry.”

“It’s alright, don’t you think we’d make a cute couple, Zayn!” Harry presses his lips to Niall’s cheek and side-eyes Zayn.

“Your kids would be hella terrible looking if they looked anything like you,” Zayn teases.

“Hurtful!” Harry sticks his face in the crook of Niall’s neck and blows hot air there.

“It’s okay,” Niall pats his head. “Zayn, apologize.”

“Sorry,” Zayn fakes a meek tone and sticks his tongue out at Harry.

“Apology unaccepted.”

Niall sighs and rubs Harry’s back. Harry smiles into the skin on his neck and flicks a cherry stem at Zayn, suddenly sitting up with a wide smile, “Hey, want to see something?” He sticks another stem in his mouth only to pop it back out on his tongue with a knot in the middle. And oh yeah, that’s attractive.

“I wanna know what else you can do with that tongue!” Louis crows.

Liam looks at him firmly, “No you do not.” Louis huffs a breath but leans into Liam again with a small satisfied smile. Liam pats his head, he’s trained him well.

***

“How’s your knee?” Harry asks as Niall walks down the street, the air is cold and and the weather has been crap.

“It hurts,” Niall mumbles, he’s obviously favoring it.

“Here,” Harry runs in front of him and squats.

“What?”

“Get on my back, let me carry you,” Harry chirps.

“Are you sure? I’m not exactly the lightest-”

“Get on my back!” Harry orders so Niall gingerly gets on and wraps his arms around Harry’s neck.

“You smell good,” Niall tells him without thinking.

“Oh really?” Harry states coyly. And wow Niall’s really not thinking if his brain tells him to stick his nose in Harry’s neck and continue to breathe in his scent.

“You know they say that scent has the most powerful memory triggers out of all the triggers,” Harry whispers once they get to Niall’s flat and they’re standing in the cold just outside the door.

“Really?”

“Yeah. Like when I smell ginger I think of home because my mum always wore a ginger perfume and lemons remind me of my grandmother because she made lemon cakes a lot,” Harry steps closer and Niall sees his breath curling up into the grey sky. “And whenever I walk into the mall past the shops I always think of Spanish.”

“Why?”

“Because Spanish smells like you.”

Niall’s breath catches in his throat, “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Harry gets even closer and now Niall’s staring at his lips and the way his mouth moves and maybe it’s been creeping up on him for awhile, but suddenly he wants to kiss those pink lips. “That the mall smells like Calvin Klein, which is what you wear and you taught me Spanish, so.”

Niall tries to control his breathing and resists the urge to continue smelling Harry’s cologne, “Whenever I smell cut grass I think of the reason my knee hurts in bad weather because I damaged it during a footie game and when I smell cedar I think of the old chest in my mum’s attic that holds my grandfather’s clothes. But when I go near the bakery I think of cherry stems.” And yeah, he’s totally fucked.

“Why?” Harry’s lips are slowly forming a smirk.

“Because the bakery smells like you.”

“How does the bakery smell like me?”

“You always smell like sugar and flour and like baked goods,” Niall smiles at him.

“So why do you think of cherry stems?”

“Because the night you tied a cherry stem with your tongue at the pub is all I’ve been thinking about for forever,” Niall admits, his cheeks color from more than the cold.

“Are you as curious about my tongue as Louis?” Harry’s voice is nearly inaudible.

“Maybe,” Niall squeaks, but his response is swallowed by Harry’s mouth closing over his own. And yeah, his heart is definitely going to pound of his chest and all over the place, but right now all he knows is sugar and flour and goddamn cherry stems.

Harry pulls back minutely to mutter against Niall’s lips, “I like to cuddle, I hope you don’t mind.”

“I guessed that when I met you,” Niall giggles pulling Harry back in. His knee suspiciously doesn’t hurt anymore and he thinks he might just wear the cologne a little heavier from now on.

**Author's Note:**

> Eh? My [tumblr](http://twitcamniall.tumblr.com/)


End file.
